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Opponents of the natural gas-drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, will take another major step in building their movement this weekend when they gather in Washington D.C. for a national convergence called Stop The Frack Attack. There will be two days of trainings and workshops, a day of citizen lobbying on Capital Hill and then a rally and march that will deliver toxic fracking waste water to the headquarters of the American Petroleum Institute and the American Natural Gas Alliance. Organizers are expecting upwards of 3,000 people to participate — an impressive number, considering that just a few years ago fracking was something few Americans knew about.

In those few years, however, “fracktavists” have managed to elevate concerns over the air, water and climate impacts of unconventional natural gas drilling from rural kitchen tables to the national stage. They’ve fought tireless state and regional campaigns using a combination of savvy media strategies and good old-fashioned community organizing and they’ve won some significant victories.

The issue has become so salient in New York that Late Show host David Letterman, known for his reliably light and inoffensive material, went on a strikingly unfunny minute long rant against fracking last week, decrying:

Greedy oil and gas companies of this country have decided that they can squeeze every last little ounce of oil and gas out of previously pumped wells by injecting the substrata of our planet with highly toxic carcinogenic chemicals … they’re poisoning our drinking water … ladies and gentlemen, we’re screwed.

Why did Letterman make this statement now? Maybe fracking just really touches a nerve for Dave, or perhaps he’s trying to keep from being outdone by the likes of Jimmy Fallon, who also recently criticized the controversial gas-drilling practice on his show. Whatever the combination of reasons, it seems pretty unlikely that Letterman would have taken on the power of the fossil fuel industry if he didn’t recognize that he’d have the support of an enormous and rapidly growing grassroots movement.

Up to this point, anti-fracking activism has largely occurred at the state and local level but organizers are hoping that this weekend’s events will help elevate their concerns within the broader national debate about energy and the environment.

According to Lauren Pagel, policy coordinator for Earthworks, Stop the Frack Attack “emerged through conversations with impacted communities, grassroots groups and national environmental organizations … we want to push members of Congress to pass laws that make fracking less dangerous, and make sure the Obama administration is doing the same with their policies. But, we also know that the majority of the regulation of fracking goes on at the state level, so we want to support state efforts as much as possible. ”

There’s reason to believe that organizing at all levels can be synergistic. Russell Mendell, an organizer for Water Defense in New York City expressed:

My hope is that our success at stopping fracking in New York will give strength to other fights in other states, but it goes both ways. It’s been widely speculated that Governmer Cuomo will run for president in 2016 and we know he’s keeping an eye on the national conversation. We also know that other states may follow New York’s lead. A big national presence is important for the fight in New York and vice versa.

This recognition that there is strength in a network has allowed the Stop The Frack Attack coalition to grow to include 136 environmental, labor and religious groups of varying sizes. Of course, the diversity of this coalition poses some challenges. There are significant rifts in the movement between those calling for tighter regulation of fracking and those who will not be satisfied with anything less than a complete ban. Pagel recognizes this challenge, but points to the benefits of a “big tent” strategy to advance the common agenda of all of the groups involved.This sentiment is echoed by Kari Matsko, a 40-year-old project manager for a software-consulting firm who discovered in 2006 that her Lake County, Ohio home was smack in the middle of oil and gas fields leased by her distant neighbors. As Matsko explained:

I was introduced to the risks of oil and gas when I was sickened by fumes from the drilling, my neighbors were a little bit closer to the drill site and they had to evacuate their house. Their children were in the hospital at 3 a.m. It was terrible. … I felt like it was my civic duty to act. I wanted to get the word out there in terms of the risk. No one was conveying the risks. We want to raise awareness and to get information out there and empower people to make informed decisions in the face of all the ads that the industry has been running on TV. … It’s going to be helpful to Ohio … to get attention on the issue and build awareness.

But for Matsko, who now serves on the coalition’s advisory committee, the networking and capacity-building components of the convergence are just as important as the public demonstrations. For her, a successful outcome is one in which “folks are able to walk away with new relationships and new information that may aide in work with their governments. If we can prevent just one case of what happened to me and my neighbors that’s a victory … this mission is ongoing and never ending and these kind of efforts help keep your spirits up and remind you that you’re not alone even if you lose one battle.”

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Mike Sandmel is an activist, writer, and bike share organizer based in Brooklyn, NY. His work in all these areas focuses on the politics of sustainability in ways that utilize historical knowledge, systems thinking, and pragmatic experimentation.

11 comments

Cool article. Good to read about Letterman. The only Late Show taping I was ever at, he went on a really good rant about how racist it was to be demanding all this birth certificate nonsense, college grades, etc. from President Obama. Letterman: turns out he’s not so much a fan of Donald Trump.

B R A V O !!!! At last this poisoning information is getting out to the general public, who seems to NOT BE AWARE of the horrible destruction caused by FRACKING.
Not to mention the chemical poisons used.
HOORAY!!! HOORAY!!! HOORAY !!! TELL THE WORLD, PLEASE!!!

I find that not only this article but every article about anti-fracking is ridicules! People that don’t like fracking are just uneducated about fracturing. I believe that those people should not have a say in what is going on. Fracking is not a bad thing for the environment it’s how it is done. If things, like cementing the well, are done wrong then that is where you will have problems with your water or the surrounding environment. Before people go out and protest about stuff maybe they should know about the subject they are protesting about!! In some homes you use natural gas to heat your home, sometime drying your clothes requires natural gas, some stoves use natural gas to cook, and now some cars are starting to be able to run on natural gas which is better for the environment. Fork you people saying fracking is a bad thing try living without all those things and see how you could make it. I know I would even have a hard time!! Oh and the fracking companies are employing a lot of workers. Not only at there company but the service companies, which I work for, that supply help on putting in the well pads, or even transporting the water, brine, and flowback.

Brandy, While I respect and appreciate your comment I have to ask…do you live in one of the impacted areas? That question, before all others flavors your entry.
I live where this is happening and the hiring in this area is non existent, the staggering majority of workers here have come up from the Houston area so they have not done much to help employment at all.
The truth is what we see is reminiscent of the cattle barons vs. the sheepherders…same mentality just new names.

Good article,
As someone who lives in Weld County Colorado I know all too well the dangers of fracking as I see it’s footprint on a daily basis. We have had our own experience with the gas companies that may result in the loss of our home. Our story is due to Seismic testing (we sit directly over a major pocket it seems) and the damage done by this testing. here’s the readers digest version for you all as we have learned we are not alone in this problem.

Just before Christmas a company called GeoKinetics was in our area conducting Seismic testing very close to our home and within a very short span of time (days) from this occurrence our water well collapsed and cracks appeared on the walls in our garage and one entire side of our home.
We did contact our insurance company who of course immediately denied the claim as the damages they observed were caused by induced seismic activity and they told us this needs to be addressed by the Seismic company.
Our next course of action was to contact Geo Kinetics who in turn sent 4 people to our home to photograph all of the cracks that have appeared inside of our home and here we are thirty days later have been unable to get any response to verbal and written requests for information or, in lieu of Geo Kinetics working on this issue we have asked consistently for the name of their insurer and have not received any response to this query as well.
I am concerned about my home of course as far as what damage may have been done to the structure (if any) to cause the cracking but more pressing is the fact that although we were able to get our well repaired and have water again we were told by the well company that this will be a temporary solution and we need to plan on having a new well placed in the future which will be very costly as well as (due to the available aquifers we will be forced to drill down to ) a downgrade in water quality.
I cannot express the issues and the sheer attitude we have had to try and overcome in dealing with these companies (from Anadarko) all the way down to GeoKinetics to try and find who actually did the testing which we were finally able to do. We were never informed this testing was going to take place at our very doorstep and now that they have caused all this damage to our home and water we are being ignored (they have denied any responsibility) by these companies and quite frankly cannot find anyone that will act as an advocate for us or at least help us locate others with this same issue so we can at least begin to unite and fight back to this injustice.
My wife and I truly hope anyone out there can refer us to someone who can help us because we are losing everything we have worked a lifetime for and so far have not been able to find anyone who will help us stand up to this (pointed remark to the Colorado Gas Commission).
In any event, due to the damage and the cost for a new well we are on the brink of having to walk away from our home of almost twenty years and to date, as I have noted already not one entity that should be there to assist has even bothered to respond with a even cursory mail.
The gas company of course has refused any contact with their insurance and simply denied (as I have mentioned) any responsibility although our security cameras clearly show them in the street next to our property and one of their employees trespassing to “check” their activity to be sure they were causing no harm (according to what they told us).

There’s our story…share it with others because what’s happening out here is a complete disgrace and is becoming a norm rather than a rare occurrence. We have found that when you live in boom area the little guy gets trampled in the rush and our “representatives” are turning a blind eye.

The fracking one percent want to frack up precious earth and water
They’ll gladly frack us for a handsome sum
Who the frack do they fracking think they are for fracking sakes
They should frack themselves to fracking kingdom come

Fracking greed beings fracking wealth to the frack heads in control
The fan-fracking-tastic millions must unite
We should fracking kick their fracking asses till they stop
Let’s show some fracking guts and fracking fight

The fracking buck must fracking stop right fracking here and now
Let’s not let them dig that fracking pit
Frack the one percent and frack their fracking slimy lies
We’ve fracking had enough of that fracking shit

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A Summer of Solidarity between climate activists working to stop fracking, mountaintop removal, coal exports and tar sands has helped launch a nationwide surge in direct action against the fossil fuel industry.

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